say what you want about sega, but they do a GREAT job pranking aaron webber, one of it employees. fucking sega took it down, but basically while aaron was away, his office mates turned his cubicle into a scene from sonic the hedgehog.

this past weekend, little_nerdxo and i went to casa loma. i was busy snapping pictures with my big, bulky SLR camera. out of nowhere, i heard the unmistakeable ‘click’ of a camera. while i very briefly worried i had been followed by the paparazzi, i was relieved to see that it was only some kid with a nintendo DS. i was actually seeing a current DS in the wild – and i was miffed.

‘wow. in my day, we used film. in an actual camera,’ i harumphed.
‘can’t beat progress,’ shrugged little_nerdxo. ‘look at you dorking out with your stupid smartphone camera. and all the stuff you can do with your SLR.’

both of these were things i already knew to be true. but it was something i needed to hear again. she was right. you CAN’T beat progress. it got me thinking about nintendo’s long and glorious history. so, without further ado, i present an infographic i found.

hard to believe nintendo has come such a long way, eh? this graphic takes a look at both the past and present successes of nintendo. it also stacks up their present glory against most other systems.

obnoxious gamer: knock-knock.audience: who’s there?obnoxious gamer: RARE.audience: RARE who?obnoxious gamer: RARE might be licensing its characters out to other game companies!! we might see more of them!audience: do you even understand what an actual ‘joke’ is?
[pause]audience: and i don’t know about you, but i don’t think ‘selling out’ is ever going to be funny.

all right, all right. so maybe in my excitement i got a little incoherent. sue me. here’s some of what was said at an interview:

CVG reported in December that Sega had signed the rights to use avatars of the pair in Sonic & Sega’s All Stars Racing – which is due for release on 360, Wii, PS3 and DS in the first half of this year.

And Rare studio head Mark Betteridge told CVG this week:

“It makes sense to keep our characters in the public eye and in players’ awareness, and this opportunity was one we couldn’t pass up – not only did it allow Banjo and Kazooie to appear as they’ve most recently been seen in a Nuts & Bolts-style vehicle, but we’d be entrusting them to a well-known publisher with its own compatible stable of characters.”

And when we asked if Rare would consider allowing publishers to ‘borrow’ more of its characters in non-Rare games in future, he added:

“As long as we felt it was beneficial to the franchise. We’re wary of spreading any of our properties too thin, but at the same time the feedback on Banjo appearing in All-Stars Racing has been great, so as long as we choose carefully we’re happy to give players extra opportunities to take control of Rare characters.”read more…

so when i read that, i was certainly super stoked. i grew up with those characters. details are kind of sketchy right now, but i guess you’ll have control of these classics in a racing game. stay tuned!

ok. i know you’re all dying to know what the hello kitty i’ve been up to over the past few days, so i offer my most insincere apologies for not having posted every day. i’ve been doing a bit of travelling [imagine a gamer with a REAL life!]. i visited some buddies recently and played the ‘new super mario bros wii‘. it’s cool. sort of a mix between the old-school NES version and the N64 one, with sexy new shit thrown in. it has some new elements i find weird, namely coming back in a bubble. also, before you can start playing, someone has to – wait for it – burst your bubble. nintendo, you’re a crafty bastard, making clever puns like that. jokes and snide comments aside, i liked it. i’ve been thinking about getting a wii for the wii fit part, since the gym is out of my way right now. this might be another reason. stay tuned and shit.

in other news, i picked up a SEGA Genesis! 35 clams [slang for ‘dollars’ for all you morons out there] scored me the console, all its bits and pieces, a controller, plus two games… some Sonic title and Stargate. i might officially be the coolest person ever.